Tides of fate

Chapter 2:A Life Unknown

The orphanage smelled of soap and worn blankets, a far cry from the salt and freedom of the sea. Yet for three little children, wrapped in blankets and swaddled tight, it was a world they could not understand but were forced to accept.

The boys, Luka and Elias, and their sister, Mira, huddled together on a small cot, their tiny hands instinctively searching for the warmth of one another. Though they could not remember their mother, nor the gentle waves that had once cradled them, a bond ran between them stronger than any other—a connection that even time could not weaken.

Sister Agnes, the matron of the orphanage, moved among the cots with efficiency and routine. She did not know where the children had come from, only that a fisherman had delivered them one chilly morning, swaddled and silent, with no names, no papers—just three fragile lives in need of care.

Luka, the bolder of the twins, reached for Mira’s hand. “Do you ever… dream of the water?” he whispered, his wide brown eyes scanning the gray walls.

Mira’s small lips pressed together. “Sometimes… I hear it in my sleep,” she admitted. “The waves… calling.”

Elias, the youngest, tugged on Luka’s sleeve. “Will we ever know where we belong?”

They didn’t have the answers yet. The orphanage was safe, yes, but it was also confining. Their days were filled with routines—meals, naps, chores, and lessons—but at night, when the lights dimmed and the building settled into silence, the children often pressed their faces to the window, imagining a world beyond these walls. A world of endless skies, endless horizons, and water that sparkled like glass under the moon.

Unbeknownst to them, their lives were about to change. A man of wealth and influence had been searching, not for riches, but for children who were remarkable, children who were… extraordinary. And when he arrived at the orphanage, he would see not just three orphans, but three pieces of a destiny that had begun far beneath the waves.

For now, though, the twins slept, dreaming of a world they had never known, unaware that their mother’s heart still beat for them, across the miles and the tides.